lawmakers and president obama have left washington for christmas, and with no consensus on the momentous tax hikes and spending cuts set to go into effect january 1st. cnn's brianna keilar is live in hawaii where the president is vacationing. br breanna, is the president overly optimistic a last-minute deal can be reached? >> reporter: i don't know, miguel, if you could say overly optimistic. we heard him last night in the briefing room of the white house saying he's a hopeless optimist that something can still be done. but the fact is it's going to be something smaller. he's now pushing for tax cuts to be preserved for americans making $250,000 or less and pushing for unemployment benefits to be extended for a couple million americans. listen to some of what he said but also still some of the house republican opposition to this short-term plan he's pushing. >> in the next few days i've asked leaders of congress to work towards a package that prevents a tax hike on middle-class americans, protects unemployment insurance for 2 million americans, and lays the groundwork for further work on